Law Student Issues

I've always had a special interest and concern in law student issues, and issues affecting trainee solicitors and trainee barristers. This is a reflection of the tough time I had as a law student fighting to break into the legal profession along with many of my contemporaries. This initially led to the publication of my book Blackstone's Guide to Becoming a Solicitor to guide aspiring trainee solicitors through the process of securing a training contract. It's a privilege, today, to help and inspire others in the same boat I was once in. Not much has changed in 12 years - in fact it is harder now to qualify into the profession than ever before. And if recent news is anything to go by, it's not likely to change in the near future either.

Break with tradition - make social networking sites work for you (The Times, registration required).
Top 10 Websites for Students.
Happy holidays - winter vacation schemes.
Pop stars to pensioners: everyone needs a lawyer a look at some niche areas of legal practice.
£5,000 to defer your training contract: do you take the money? - deferral of training contracts in a recession.

It's better to send 20 properly researched applications than 100 that are similar. 'Mail shots' can be spotted a mile off and will end up in the bin
Tailor each application carefully. Show your target law firm you are genuinely interested in the firm. Don't waste your time applying if you're just not interested in working there!
Research the firm, its practice areas and its ethos carefully before applying. Has it been in the news? What particularly draws your interest?
Adapt and tweak your CV accordingly. If, for example, you identify property law as the most interesting practice area but your target firm doesn't have a property department, you won't get very far.
Find out the name of the person you should send your application to. Don't send it to 'the Personnel Director' or 'the Managing Partner' - it looks lazy and is a basic error many applicants make.